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Beef Chili Colorado Tacos

Carne en chile colorado is a Mexican classic, and one of the delicious offerings that appear on the rotating menu at Walter Soto’s El Ruso taqueria trucks that operate in a couple locations in and around Los Angeles. “Colorado” translates from the Spanish as “red-colored,” an apt name for the succulent, stewy dish of meat, sometimes shredded, sometimes not, in a sauce of pureed dried red chilies.
Pork is commonly used to make chili colorado, but this version is Paola Briseño-González's ode to El Ruso's rich, robust beef in red chili sauce. The cut of choice is a boneless chuck roast, which boasts plenty of fat and connective tissue so that long, slow cooking yields rich, tender, full-flavored meat.
Either guajillo or New Mexico chilies work here; you can even use a combination. Both are a deep red color, have bright, fruity notes with subdued earthiness, and contain only mild chili heat. El Ruso also is well known for its flour tortillas, so that’s the type to serve with the chili colorado for making tacos.
Servings: 6
Author: Milk Street

Ingredients

  • 12 medium guajillo chilies or New Mexico, (about 2½ ounces) stemmed, seeded and roughly torn
  • 4 medium garlic cloves smashed and peeled
  • 1 teaspoon mexican oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • kosher salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2½ pounds boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 3-inch chunks
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion ½ roughly chopped, ½ finely chopped, reserved separately
  • 2 bay leaves
  • warm flour tortillas to serve
  • ½ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro chopped

Instructions

Hydrate the dried chilies:

  • In a medium saucepan, combine the chilies and enough water to cover by about 1 inch.
  • Bring to a boil over medium-high, pressing on the chilies to submerge them.
  • Remove from the heat, cover and let stand until the chilies are fully softened, 15 to 20 minutes.

Purée the chilies:

  • Drain the chilies, discarding the water, and put them in a blender along with the garlic, oregano, cumin, 4 cups water and 1½ teaspoons salt.
  • Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes; set aside.

Brown the beef:

  • Spread the flour in a pie plate or other wide, shallow dish.
  • Add the beef, turning to coat all sides.
  • In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat the oil until shimmering.
  • Add the beef, shaking off the excess flour, and cook, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes; transfer to a large plate.

Braise the beef:

  • Pour off and discard any fat in the pot.
  • Add the chili puree and bring to a simmer over medium, scraping up any browned bits.
  • Stir in the roughly chopped onion and bay, then add the beef and any accumulated juices.
  • Return to a simmer, then cover, reduce to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally and increasing the heat as needed to maintain a vigorous simmer, for 1 hour.
  • If at this point the braising liquid no longer covers the beef, stir in ½ cup water and return to a simmer.
  • Cook, covered, until a skewer inserted into the largest piece of beef meets no resistance and the sauce has the consistency of heavy cream, about another 1 hour.
  • Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for about 30 minutes.
  • Remove and discard the bay.

Shred the beef, finish, and serve:

  • Using 2 forks, shred the beef.
  • Return to a simmer over medium, stirring occasionally.
  • Taste and season with salt and pepper.
  • Serve with flour tortillas and with the finely chopped onion and cilantro.

Notes

Don’t worry if the beef is not entirely submerged in the chili puree when the chunks are added to the pot. As it cooks, the meat will release some juices. However, if, after about an hour of simmering, the beef is not covered with liquid, stir in ½ cup water to ensure even cooking and prevent drying.